The weasel program, Dawkins' weasel, or the Dawkins weasel is a thought experiment and a variety of computer simulations illustrating it. Their aim is to demonstrate that the process that drives evolutionary systems — random variation combined with non-random cumulative selection — is different from pure chance.
The thought experiment was formulated by Richard Dawkins, and the first simulation written by him; various other implementations of the program have been written by others.
Read more about Weasel Program: Overview, Implications For Biology, Criticism, More Complex Models, Example Algorithm
Famous quotes containing the words weasel and/or program:
“There was a weasel lived in the sun
With all his family,
Till a keeper shot him with his gun”
—Edward Thomas (1878–1917)
“Beluthahatchee is a country where all unpleasant doings and sayings are forgotten, a land of forgiveness and forgetfulness. When a woman accusingly reminds her man of something in the past, he replies, ‘I thought that was in Beluthahatchee.’ Or a person may say to another, to dismiss some matter, “Oh, that’s in Beluthahatchee.’”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)